Page 26 of King of War

His statement and the nickname tell me this is his friend, not a hookup, which makes me feel better. Proclivities aside, Luca is generally a good judge of character. She stares at me, eyes narrowing as she assesses me, no doubt the way I’ve been doing to her from the moment I stepped into the room. Eliza. No older than twenty-one. Smart. Into pain. Definitely receiving, maybe inflicting too. Not a sub though, because of the way she responds to my brother. Not in deference, but as an equal. She closes her textbook and places it on the bench beside her. “So what exactly is it you’d like to talk about, Enzo?”

“You had a conversation with Luca recently about Oscar Bertelli.”

She glances at Luca and then back to me. “If you’re here to tell me things I already know then you’re wasting both of our time.”

Yeah, definitely reminds me of Rayne. Okay, I’ll get to the point. “He said you heard something about Oscar having something on the don. Can you tell me any more than that? What exactly he said? What it might have been?”

She purses her lips, like she’s thinking. “I mean, it wasn’t all that much really. Oscar gets a little braggadocious when he’s coming down from his endorphin high, and sometimes he says things he shouldn’t. But he trusts me, so he’s not as careful around me as some of the other girls.”

She said trusts, not trusted, which means unlike Frenchy, she doesn’t know he’s dead yet. “And what exactly did he say?”

“Oh, he talked about buying me diamonds and jewelry and how he was going to get to the top of the food chain because he had something that could bring Carmine to his knees.”

“Did you ask what it was?”

She shakes her head. “I never ask questions, Enzo. It scares them off.” She flashes me a fake, saccharine-sweet smile. “And Oscar likes to boast about his grandiose plans quite a lot. Specifically about putting Carmine in his place, though nothing ever comes of them.”

“Oscar’s dead, Li,” Luca tells her.

She opens and closes her mouth and then makes a humph sound. “Pity, he was such a good tipper.”

“So, you see, this time he might have been telling the truth, Eliza.”

She hums. “Are you here on behalf of Carmine?”

I shake my head. “On behalf of me and my brothers.”

She looks to Luca, and he nods his confirmation. “If it is true, and Carmine finds out I know anything…”

“He won’t. I swear to you,” I assure her.

“And Frenchy would never allow anything to happen to you,” Luca says.

“Yeah, she has enough dirt on everyone to bring down this entire city,” I remind her.

That makes her smile for real. “True,” she murmurs. “Okay. He rambled about there being a girl.”

My hackles go up. “A girl?”

She nods. “Well, a woman, I guess. Because he said he’d found something she wanted and that he’d use it to get what he wanted.”

The woman has to be Rayne, surely? So he intended to blackmail her with the video? And to do what exactly? “Did he say anything more about who this woman was, or what he had that she wanted? And how the hell it would bring down Carmine?”

She shrugs, glancing at her textbook like she’s bored of the conversation and would like to get back to her studies. “No. Like I said he’s always a little loose lipped after a deep role-play session.”

Well, now my interest is piqued for another reason. “Exactly what kind of role-play are we talking about?”

She grins wickedly. “Where I’m his mommy and he’s a naughty little boy.”

Oscar Bertelli a naughty little boy? Bile burns the back of my throat and I swallow it down.

My reaction makes her laugh. “It takes all sorts, I guess. But here at Frenchy’s we don’t judge, Mr. Medici.”

“No. Of course not.” Because here at Frenchy’s everyone’s a deviant.

“Is that all?” she asks.

“Yes, and thanks.”